Would You Look At That: Mytheon Shutting Down


If you haven’t heard of Mytheon, it was developed by Petroglyph, the company behind the upcoming End of Nations and Rise of Immortals MMOs. Alright, you haven’t heard of Mytheon. Turns out neither has the rest of the press (including myself) because Mytheon announced it would be shutting down way back in July and none of us noticed until just this week.

For those thinking of getting one last shot in before the game goes down, don’t bother. It’s already offline, since when I can’t say for sure. Mytheon’s twitter account hasn’t been updated since April. Mytheon was such a small launch that I’m not even sure the game ever fully left open beta. How embarrassing for us.

Hopefully the development team at Mytheon was able to find work in Petroglyph’s other upcoming projects. Mytheon may have flown so far under the radar that it was picked off by a wayward swingset, but it’s always a tragedy when people not only lose their jobs but see the project they’ve worked on for years crumble at the push of a button.

More Fallen Earth Free To Play Information


GamersFirst has a good year ahead for it, with the upcoming transition of Fallen Earth to a free to play medium. In a recent dev blog, G1 goes over some information regarding what free players, subscribers, and past customers can expect when the game makes its official move on October 12th, and there is a whole laundry list of items that will annoy free players and delight past customers alike.

Foremost, GamersFirst seems to have taken note of the community reaction to the free to play matrix released, including the surprise many felt that the developers would allow unfettered access to the mail system, auction house, and trading. While G1 hopes that the chip limit will do its job in holding back gold farming on a massive scale, they acknowledge that these freedoms may be taken away from free players at any time if the bots get out of control. The chip limit is ten red chips for free players.

But for now, some good news. Players who are subscribed to Fallen Earth when the transition goes into effect will find that their remaining time has been converted to Commander Premium level, the highest tier ($30 a month). Furthermore, G1 has also mentioned that anyone who has ever bought a Fallen Earth key in the past will be offered a premium discount to Commander tier, $20 a month, a thirty three percent saving and just a little more than the Wastelander cost.

More information as it appears.

Week In Review: Not A Real Doctor Edition


I got some time to play with Warhammer: Wrath of Heroes, and the more I begin to doubt that certain Mythic employees will have much in terms of career options should the time come that they no longer report to EA/Mythic. Consider that Warhammer Online is one of the primary reasons (including All Points Bulletin) why Electronic Arts had so much trouble getting proper investment for The Old Republic, and then consider that Paul Barnett and Carrie Gouskos (among others) were at a panel where they trashed WAR in favor of Wrath of Heroes. I would be incredibly surprised if this didn’t have another negative effect on EA’s image with investors.

But as for the game itself, Wrath of Heroes will be enjoyed by those who really enjoyed the Scenarios from Warhammer Online, as Mythic stated, as the game is essentially the bare-bones scenarios from Warhammer. You choose from a selection of hero-types, each carrying a small handful of powers, and battle it out on the field for territory control. The problem some players will undoubtedly have is that the game just isn’t Warhammer. It isn’t like Space Marine or even Warhammer Online, it just feels like another game someone slapped Warhammer skins on to and changed the names of a few powers.

Hopefully the doomsayers are wrong and Wrath of Heroes will not be the successor that murders its predecessor.

1. World of Darkness May Feature Perma-Death

World of Darkness is an odd piece of fruit. I want to talk about CCP’s upcoming MMO because every now and then the developer releases a nugget of information that leaves me asking where to submit my pre-order money. That being said, the game is in pre-production, meaning that everything is fair game for the old chopping block under the explanation of “it just didn’t work in practice.”

But if you were under the impression that World of Darkness would be less hardcore than Eve Online, you can pack your bags and head back to your sparkly emo vampires now. All signs point towards the open player vs player combat making a return in this game, as well as the possibility of perma-death and humanity points deciding who can attack you and where. CCP has also talked dynamic events, and players having a real effect on the world…of darkness.

2. Do You Believe In Redemption?

I’m going to pose a question as a bullet point this week. If we’ve learned anything from Turbine, Funcom, Cryptic, and Sony Online Entertainment, it is that free to play is exactly the medicine an MMO needs for not-enough-money-itis. Almost without exception, we’ve seen games from Dungeons and Dragons Online to Everquest II, Champions Online and Age of Conan burst at the seams from the amount of new players who want to try out the game. Now the question as to whether or not this success will stand long term is a topic for another day.

But I wanted to talk about a different form of redemption, through game updates. Can Final Fantasy XIV bring back its player base, or has it been too long? If Warhammer Online were to introduce a full third faction, living cities, and a host of bug fixes, would that bring back the million+ who had pre-ordered it back in 2008? What about if Anarchy Online were to finally update to the Dream engine? Or if Everquest had received a major graphical makeover?

Making a comeback without going free to play is certainly the far more difficult strategy, but is it impossible?

3. Let’s Take Another Look At An MSPOG System, Shall We?

I don’t know if that is the actual term Nintendo will use, but I want to talk again about the Massively Single Player Online Game genre patented by Nintendo and perhaps actually implemented at some point in the future. My first idea in this system brought me back to Sin: Episodes. If you don’t remember Sin, it was developed by Ritual Entertainment back in the early days where developers were still trying to figure out episodic gaming. Ritual had this great idea to take metrics on virtually every aspect of the game, which would essentially change the directions the sequels moved in depending on how the majority of players completed the game.

Consider if you will a sandbox shooter, set in a world similar to Freedom Fighters. The game ships with an offline mode and an online mode, and the online mode is essentially single player, but the world you are in changes depending on the collective performance of those on the field. Naturally the game would have to be difficult enough that one player can’t blaze through a fully equipped base, but imagine clearing out a sewer tunnel only to have your efforts translate into long-lasting benefits for other players, or vice versa finding an entrance that was not accessible when you logged off the prior night.

The problem with this system is that it is ripe for abuse in any implementation, but that is up to the developers to figure out. I need to go find my copy of Freedom Fighters on my Gamecube.

4. Death Star Over Endor

I found this photo on the MMORPG.com forums, and all I can say is that it is damn cool, and a clear sign as to how the game will end (with a fight over the Death Star). This really makes me want to log in and start power leveling my character before it’s too late and the game shuts down.

5. Where Does Lord of the Rings Go When The Books Are Over?

At the rate Lord of the Rings Online updates to follow the book’s storyline, there are a few years left before we actually get into Return of the King, let alone to the point where we finish it. So by the time we hit that almighty end of the trilogy, Lord of the Rings Online may, for all intent and purpose, be a dead game experienced only by a few remaining loyal players. Lord of the Rings doesn’t have the same luxury as other IPs in that Turbine doesn’t have much to go on after the story is over.

The toppling of Sauron’s tower would make for a great finale to the game, don’t you think?

DC Universe Heading Free to Play In October


DC Universe is something of a lone duck in the industry. With Champions Online free to play and City of Heroes making the transition later this year, I’ve speculated before that Sony following with a similar model was only a matter of time. Of course you could also look at John Smedley’s statement that freemium is the future, but we’re talking competition folks!

The free transition brings three tiers of benefits, from free players to past subscribers to current subscribers, with the usual change in access. Subscribers and past subscribers will have access to more inventory space, cash limits, and while free players have access to the base game, subscribers will gain access to the extra content (such as the Green Lantern pack) for free.

Smedley did reveal some interesting information regarding the shift, including that the feedback from console players was a large driving force in the decision, and that the PS3 population outnumbers the PC crowd three to one.

This can only spell good things for DC Universe, whose major criticism has been not warranting a $15 monthly subscription. When the game goes free in late October, players who enjoy the game in smaller bites will be able to do so without the commitment.

World of Warcraft Magazine Canned


Blizzard has announced that the World of Warcraft magazine has shut its doors, leaving subscribers wondering what what will happen to their remaining paid issues. To compensate players, Blizzard is offering one of two options:

  1. To get a refund, you’ll have to send a letter to the Future US mail box.
  2. Or players can opt for in-game premium pets, which are allocated depending on how many issues you had left on your account.

Head over to the magazine website for more information.

The exact reason for the cancellation has not been confirmed, but low subscribers and high production costs are probably high on the list.

Square Enix Expanding Final Fantasy XIV Development Team


As I’ve said before, Square Enix has a long history of going away from the norm on a design level and a corporate level. If you’re one of the unbelieving heathens who looked at Final Fantasy XIV and thought “well this will just continue diminishing until there’s nothing left of the development team,” I’m going to hit you on the nose with a rolled up newspaper. Not only are you wrong, you couldn’t be any more off-base unless Square Enix turned out to have never existed and the Final Fantasy series was an M Night Shyamalan film.

Dual Shockers has an article noting that Square Enix is not only not downsizing the Final Fantasy XIV team, they’re hiring more people to work on the resurfacing MMO. Eleven new positions have been created, with another confirmation that the PS3 version is still in development.

As part of this new initiative, I will be shipping Yoshi-P a new t-shirt to wear around the office that says “troll-proof.”

Bigpoint Gives Faith in UNITY, Jagex Should Use It


My first, and for a long time only, experience with MMOs on the UNITY engine was Cartoon Network’s Fusionfall, and for all the criticizing I throw at Bigpoint Games for their public comments, I’m very happy that they had more faith in the engine than I did. I say this because I was playing the open beta for KULTAN today, Bigpoint’s upcoming answer to the sea-faring MMOs, and the game looks great to the point where the screenshots (even the one I presented) really don’t do it justice. And the game ran great, apart from a few issues I had with the controls and some problems with targeting, but that can be ironed out in development.

Of course this isn’t the first Bigpoint MMO built on the UNITY engine. Battlestar Galactica Online also does the engine justice. It is a system that is mind-blowing more in the sense of what a browser-based engine can do, rather than expecting Crysis-level graphics. Even in the short period between Battlestar Galactica and KULTAN, the amount of progress tells me that in just a few years the UNITY engine has the potential to evolve the next base platform for MMOs, in a similar way that the Unreal engine became the base for most video games you play today.

Almost immediately I thought “I’d like to see Runescape transition to Runescape 3, released on the UNITY engine.” Java is a great tool, but it is falling behind on the times. For an MMO, especially one growing at the rate Runescape is, the technology has become so old and lacks optimization that Jagex will only be able to stack so much on top before they are forced to switch over. The Java engine doesn’t lend itself well to “real time” on a mass scale, which you can see in Runescape’s mini-games and FunOrb’s mini-games that have some sort of fast-paced measure to them.

Moving to the UNITY engine would allow for keyboard movement rather than relying on point and click pathfinding, fighting would become far more engrossing than standing next to someone taking turns swiping a whip, and while Jagex could get the engine for free, porting the game over to mobile devices would be far easier than on Java. I’m not an expert on the engine, but I get the feeling that removing the point and click aspect of Runescape would also see a heavy decrease in botters, not to mention better support for anti-cheat utilities. Also, UI improvements! I’d no longer have to go through the game seeing every button for every interface I might ever need to use!

And for the people who can’t play Runescape 3, keep Runescape 2 open for five more years (blocking new accounts) and allow people to transition their characters to the new game. No, not everyone has a powerhouse computer, but UNITY engine doesn’t require one and holding back upgrades to accommodate little Timmy on the library’s computer just allows for Chris in Florida to run that many more clients on his gold farming…farm.

How did this article turn into Runescape? Anyway, I think I’ve made my point. The UNITY engine is the base platform for browser MMOs, and something about Jagex not stopping cheaters.

Video of the ____: This Rift Is Now Diamonds


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqqT-redSJ0

Hello ladies. Look at your video, now look back. This is what your video could look like if you parodied Old Spice. This advertisement for Rift may not be the most unique, but at least worth a chuckle or two.

Week In Review: Tardiness Is Not Tolerated Edition


здравствуйте! I’ve been spending the past few days not on homework or work-work, on figuring out exactly how I want to inject videos into MMO Fallout, as I’ve promised many times in the past. My first video, that I’ll hopefully release in the next week or so, is a quick look at the Sony Authenticator. Since my skills with improvisation in front of a microphone are essentially zilch, I’m taking the old fashioned model of writing out a script.

Needless to say, what did I miss?

1. There Was No Ganking In The Old Republic

Any game with player vs player of any kind faces this issue: How liberally do we allow ganking? A majority of games take the approach of rule-bound servers, where players can choose from PvE (only in certain areas) or PvP (virtually everywhere). A select few, including Darkfall and Mortal Online, have mandatory PvP all over, with the exception of small safe zones. Bioware’s statement on the matter:

To put it bluntly: If that is your fantasy, you will have to find another game, because The Old Republic will not cater to that. For every player who enjoys that particular fantasy, there are a lot of players that don’t enjoy being on the receiving end of it. That’s a fact, a business lesson learned from existing, still running MMOs.

Good.

2. Dungeons and Dragons Online: The Offline Novel

The Shard Axe: An Eberron Novel is hardly out of the ordinary if you’ve read a Dungeons and Dragons book before. The story follows Sentinel Marshal Sabira d’Deneith, and surprisingly requires little knowledge of the world inside. The story does a great job of explaining places and people, in great detail, to newcomers of the series, and doesn’t tie-in with the game at all aside from a few locations. The action is quick, brutal, and author Marsheila Rockwell does a wonderful job painting believable characters in mythical situations that are just magical enough to still be grounded in some sort of realism.

The Shard Axe is a decently sized book at 352 pages, and is a must for any fan of Dungeons and Dragons novels, fantasy novels, or the MMO. You can buy it in paperback for around $7.99, or through your favorite ebook app for a minor price decrease.

Amazon

3. An MMO Coming To WiiU and Wii? Dragon Quest X

Now this is a surprising story. As a fan of the Dragon Quest series, the announcement of Dragon Quest X on the WiiU is about all the incentive I need to buy the console when it comes out next year. To add icing to the cake, however, the news feeds are buzzing that the game will feature persistent online multiplayer with components reminiscent of an MMO. The game, developed by Square Enix, apparently pairs up to the title enough that the game will carry a subscription fee in Japan (although this will likely be changed for American/European releases).

All I can say is where do I sign up?

4. Book #2: Book Series Based Off of Gods & Heroes

As it turns out, Heatwave Interactive has more plans for libraries than simply burning them down while murdering your family and leaving you for dead. Announced last week, Gods & Heroes is exiting the digital world and entering the world of paperback novels. Book I, titled “Blood and Laurels” is set to release at some point in the future by a nondescript author who has won an award. You can read an excerpt with the rest of the announcement here, with another excerpt to release on September 16th.

I have a feeling this is going to be one of those book-learning Week in Reviews.

5. Bi-Weekly Star Wars Galaxies Articles

I haven’t played Star Wars Galaxies since my last article on the game, but with my newly renewed Station Pass, I will be rebooting the previously weekly series as a bi-weekly piece.

Bleedout Comic: More Novelty Than Resourceful


You may already be familiar with CrimeCraft (if not, I would start here), in which case Bleedout will also be a known name. Last year, Vogster teamed up with Mike Kennedy and a whole host of artists (Nathan Fox, Zach Howard, Sanford Greene, etc) to write and produce the cutscenes for the MMO shooter’s single-player campaign story. What you may not be as aware of is that Vogster paired up with Archaia Entertainment to turn the animated-comic style scenes into a hardcover book: Thus the CrimeCraft graphic novel was born.

Originally set for release way back in May, Bleedout didn’t ship until near late July due to unseen difficulties (printing issue, as I understand). As far as content goes, this is a direct reprint of the cutscenes in-game, without the motion or the gruff voice-over. Each chapter covers the equivalent chapter in the game, page for page recreated from the MMO. The art style stays true to the game: Dirt, trash, drugs, and violence litter the pages, characters that you can practically feel the slime seeping through the pages. As far as graphic content, there’s maybe one boob-shot and a character sticking the tip of his tongue with a needle. Nothing gut-wrenching.

I highly recommend playing Bleedout on CrimeCraft before you buy this, otherwise you will simply have no idea what is going on. As I already said, the comic mirrors the cutscenes, so each chapter in the book serves as an introduction to the various factions in and around Sunrise City. Looking at the overall story, to take the comic book without playing the game is more akin to buying a book and only reading the first two paragraphs of each chapter. The story will skip ahead too far, too fast for you to keep track of what is going on, who is who, and who you are supposed to hate and why.

CrimeCraft, as I’ve stated in the past, has a rich and deep story once you dive into it, one that is not done justice by this book. Bleedout, on the whole, serves as little more than a companion piece for the game. If you enjoyed Bleedout and you like comics, it’s worth the $10. Otherwise, if you have no interest in Crimecraft (in which case you wouldn’t be reading this), this comic isn’t for you.

You can find Bleedout (the comic book) here at Amazon.